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By Ken-ichiro Uemura

"The DIOS process has been developed for eight years since 1988. The research project was started with the element studies carried out by each of the five integrated steel making companies in Japan, the final two and half years were spent for the pilot plant studies. Operation were conducted in the entirely closed and pressurized system successfully as planned. From the result, the DIOS process was proved to be viable as a future iron-making process substitutable for the conventional blast furnace. In addition, a lot of findings were obtained. Hot metal productivity was primarily determined by a oxygen flow rate, and a coal consumption varied depending on the productivity. The post combustion ratio was a little lower than expected from the result of the element study. It was supposed to relate the gas-reforming with coal or volatile matter in the free space of the furnace. Hot metal carbon content seemed to depend on the char content in slag.INTRODUCTIONThe JISF's DIOS pilot plant (DIOS=Direct Iron Ore Smelting Reduction Process) has finished its last campaign of the operations in January 1996. The project was started in 1988 as a joint research of the Center for Coal Utilization, Japan and the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF) with a subsidy for promoting coal productions and utilization technologies from the Agency of National Resources and Energy, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry(MITI). Throughout the pilot plant test, a total of over 20,000 tons of hot metal was produced for more than 2,000 hours of the operation. Recorded production rate was 538 ton/day for 3 days at a specific coal consumption of approx. 1,000kg/hmt. Long-term operation was carried out in the fifth campaign for 18 days, which has proved that the entirely closed and pressurized DIOS process works well as planned. In Figure 1 is shown the representative operational performance obtained in the first five campaigns. The project is going to be finished by the end of March this year after investigating the technical viability and economic potential of the process, and completing the conceptual design of the DIOS commercial plant. In this paper, the system and facilities of the DIOS process are first introduced and some of the results of the pilot plant test are detailed later."

Jan 1, 1996

By R. E. Aune

In the present work, a critical assessment of the thermodynamic information available for the ternary system Ni-W-0 has been carried out; This was complemented by experimental measurements of the standard Gibbs energy of formation of the ternary compound NiWO, by solid state galvanic studies involving Zr02-CaO solid electrolyte. The assessed thermodynamic data, together with the phase diagram information available in literature, were employed to generate the ternary phase diagram for the system Ni-W-0 in the temperature range 1073-1273 K. The calculation of the phase diagram was carried out by computer optimization according to the "CALPHAD" method. The computed phase diagram has been confirmed at isothermal sections by identification of the phases present in samples equilibrated at defined temperatures.

Jan 1, 1994

By Peter K. Liaw, Niann-i Yu, Wei Zhao

"For a plain-weave Nicalon ™ fiber fabric-reinforced silicon carbide (SiC) ceramic composite, little attentation has been paid to the effect of fabric stacking sequence on its mechanical behavior. In this paper, fiber-fabric stacking sequence effects on the elastic stress distributions, ceramic matrix-cracking stress, effective elastic moduli, and flexural strengths of laminated flexural test bars are quantified. A quantification model is established based on the combination of classical laminated plate theories and a fiber undulation model developed by Chou et al. A FORTRAN program is compiled to implement the modeling, which can be run in a SUN work station. The mechanical performance of a continuous fiber-reinforced ceramic-matrix composite (CFCC) with a [0/30/60] lay-up was analyzed and predicted. The variation in the fiber-fabric stacking sequence can vary the elastic stress distributions along the thickness direction of specimens, magnitude of ceramic matrix-cracking stress, effective elastic moduli of the laminate, and crack initiation sites as well as fracture modes. Moreover, all these factors contribute to scatter in flexural strengths of the CFCC.I. IntroductionWith enhanced fracture toughness and the ability of non-catastrophic (graceful) failure behavior, CFCCs are currently under evaluation for high-temperature structural applications in heat exchangers, combustors, hot-gas filters, boilers components, first walls and high-heat flux surfaces gas turbines, space vehicles and nuclear reactors.[1-8] Extensive applications of CFCCs by industry are still hampered by an insufficient understanding of the mechanical behavior, and sometimes, the lack of a well-developed and widely accepted design philosophy, in addition to the high-production costs."

Jan 1, 1998

By H. Deveci

Bioleaching/biooxidation is essentially a dissolution process with the involvement of acidophilic bacteria acting as the "catalyst" to accelerate the dissolution of metals from sulfide minerals. The contribution of bacteria to the metal dissolution is closely controlled by the growth of bacteria, which is itself affected by the physico-chemical conditions within the bioleaching environment. There are a number of operating parameters controlling bioleaching processes, which are required to be maintained within a certain range in the leaching environment whereby the activity of bacteria with the resultant oxidation of sulfide minerals can be optimized. In this regard temperature, acidity, oxidizing conditions, availability of nutrients, oxygen and carbon dioxide, surface area and presence of toxic ions are of prime importance for control and optimization of bioleaching of sulfide ores/concentrates. Bioleaching processes are temperature and pH dependent with optimum metal dissolution occurring in a particular range where the bacterial strain is most active e.g. mesophiles at 35-40°C and pH 1.6-2.0. Provision of nutrient salts is required to maintain the optimnm growth and hence metal dissolution with the quantity of nutrients apparently being dependent on the availability of substrate i.e. head grade/pulp density of an ore/concentrate. Oxygen transfer is one of the most critical factors since the oxygen levels below 1-2 mgll may adversely affect the oxidizing activity of bacteria. Bioleaching rate tends to improve with increasing the surface area at low pulp densities but, in practice. the pulp density is limited to -20010 w/v. Increasing concentrations of ions such as cr may also adversely affect the oxidative activity of bacteria. Keywords: Bioleaching, Biooxidation, Acidophilic bacteria

Jan 1, 2003

By Christopher B. Vierrether

Reflected light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and electron microprobe analysis have been used to determine the mineralogy, phase percentages, grain sizes, textures, and partitioning of cobalt and nickel in two cobalt-nickel rich mattes. These mattes were prepared by submerged bath smelting from a flotation cobalt-nickel concentrate containing 4.8% cobalt and 5.1% nickel. The concentrate was derived from lead-zinc-copper ores of the Viburnum Trend, southeast Missouri. Eleven discrete phases have been distinguished in the matte samples, three of which contain significant cobalt and nickel. The phases are cobaltpentlandite ((Co,Ni,Fe)9S8), cobalt-bearing marmatite ((Co,Fe,Zn)S), shandite (Ni3Pb2S2), bornite (Cu5FeS4), galena (PbS), magnetite (Fe3O4), pyrrhotite ((Co,Ni,Cu,Fe)1_xS), chalcocite (Cu2S), CuPbS phase, metallic copper, and metallic silver. Cobaltpentlandite and cobalt-bearing marmatite- occur in coarse grains (50 µm) that would separate readily during grinding, but shandite contains small (5 - 10um), abundant inclusions of pyrrhotite and bornite.. Some mineralogical variations between the two matte samples were due to differing degrees of oxidation during smelting,

Jan 1, 1988

By Peter K. Everett

One of the major driving forces behind the development of the Intec Copper Process has been the increasingly stringent regulations governing SO2 emissions and, in some parts of the world, a declining H2SO4 market. Other incentives include operating cost (9.2 US c/lb Cu), capital cost (US $1400/annual tonne Cu compared with smelter cost of US$3-4000/annual tonne Cu) and the ability to treat low grade and contaminated concentrates. With such advantageous features, widespread use of the process is expected over time, leading to the production of large amounts of residues containing around 25% elemental sulfur, together with approximately 50-60 % akaganeite (FeOOH) and the ganggue minerals originally present in the concentrate feed. This paper briefly describes the Intec process chemistry involved in the formation of elemental sulfur, thereby avoiding atmospheric sulfur dioxide pollution, and the investigations to be carried out either to extract it or to turn the residue into a valuable by-product while minimising any adverse environmental effects, The process is being developed jointly by a group of fifteen major international mining companies.

Jan 1, 1996

By James Vaughan

Australia is a major miner of ore that requires hydrometallurgical processing. According to the 2016 US Geological Survey Minerals Commodities Summaries, the country is 1st for aluminium (bauxite) and lithium, 2nd for gold, zinc and cobalt, 4th for nickel and silver, and 6th for copper mining, not to mention its wealth in coal and iron ore. In this paper, examples of recent Australian hydrometallurgical activities are summarised. Then, selected research projects from the University of Queensland hydrometallurgy research group are profiled. The projects profiled are related to fundamental aspects of processing bauxite with organics and reactive silica as well as the development of a synergistic hydro- and pyrometallurgical process for copper. The process context and motivation for the research is introduced, key results are highlighted with the associated relevant references.

By Jafar Safarian, Merete Tangstad, Leiv Kolbeinsen

"Silicon and its binary alloys have several applications in metallurgical, chemical, photovoltaic and semiconductor industries. Silicon goes to its liquid state within its production, refining and when it is alloyed with other elements. Therefore, the characterization of silicon melts thermodynamics is important and useful. The liquidus and activities in several silicon binary systems have been recently calculated by the application of two liquidus constants, which were established using the experimentally determined liquidus data. In the present study, the thermodynamic properties of six silicon binary melts, which are simple eutectics, are calculated by analytical approaches. In this case, the changes in the partial and integral Gibbs free energies and enthalpies of mixing are calculated and compared with the experimental data in literature. The enthalpies are calculated by two methods and the calculation results are compared to the data from the literature. It is shown that thermodynamic properties of silicon binary melts can be accurately predicted without the use of complicated thermodynamic software.IntroductionSilicon and its alloys have several industrial applications. Silicon is used for making aluminium-silicon alloys to produce cast parts, mainly for automotive industry. Silicon in the form of ferro-silicon is used to deoxidize and alloy steel and cast iron. The photovoltaic (PV) industry has had a rapid growth in the recent years and silicon is the dominant material used for the fabrication of solar cells. Silicon is primarily produced through carbothermic reduction of quartz in electric arc furnaces and the produced metallurgical grade silicon (MG-Si) contains around 1 wt% impurities. It is further refined to produce solar grade silicon (SoG-Si) with above 99.9999 wt% Si to fulfil the chemical requirement for PV application. Since molten silicon is processed all along the metallurgical route, obtaining fundamental thermodynamics knowledge about silicon melts is valuable for the related industries."

Jan 1, 2012

By Peter G. Cooper

"During 1987, the feasibility of modernising the ER&S smelter at Port Kembla, NSW, Australia was studied. The selection of appropriate technologies to carry the smelter into the 21st century considered issues such as capital cost, existing infrastructure, feed mix, capacity, product quality, flexibility and potential for further development. Both hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical process schemes were considered. Some novel combinations were assessed but ultimately rejected. Final technology selections included proven smelting and anode furnace processes, pyrometallurgical slag cleaning and modifications to existing equipment. This process scheme balanced risk against development potential within the constraints imposed by the existing plant.BackgroundThe Electrolytic Refining and Smelting Company of Australia (ER&S) has operated a custom copper smelter at Port Kembla since 1908. Existing technology includes a sinter plant/blast furnace, three small Peirce Smith converters, two reverberatory anode furnaces and a conventional tankhouse. These process units were all installed prior to 1960 and have proven to be flexible enough to process the wide variety of domestic feed materials purchased by ER&S.However, by the early 1980s, threats to domestic concentrate supplies highlighted the need for major changes to reduce operating costs to world competitive levels. Various studies in the ensuing years failed to identify an economically attractive solution. Furthermore, pressures were increasing to improve the environmental performance of the smelter.During 1986 the options for redevelopment were again considered and by the end of 1987 technologies for the retrofit had been selected and a full feasibility study was completed."

Jan 1, 1988

By V. M. Lsoitko

Statistical methods of technological mineralogy are used to model processing flowsheets in order to improve ore dressing efficiencies. The procedure involves determining geological and mineralogical characteristics of ores, classifying ore types and metallurgical procedures, and developing computer programs to interpret essential mineralogical parameters from on-stream analysis data. The on-stream analysis data include magnetism, radioactivity, luminescence and assays. The data are interpreted by computer and appropriate adjustments are made automatically in the plant.

Jan 1, 1989

By Yanhui Sun, Yanan Zeng, Kaike Cai

"Hot ductility of Nb-V-containing steel has been studied by theoretical calculation and thermal simulation experiment. Meanwhile, microsegregation and precipitates were analyzed. The results showed that segregation degree of elements S, P, 0 is greater in mushy zone, while, the hot ductility was deteriorated by inclusions of Fe(S,O), (Fe,Mn,Si,Al)(S,O) in the interdendritic region. At the temperature 1100°C, a few NbN particles, 60-70nm, have little effect on mechanical property. In the temperature range 1000°C to 975°C, R.A declined rapidly from 82.36% to 69.61% with the diameters decreasing from 20 to 10nm and quantity of particles increased 23 to 45inds/µm2, respectively. In the temperature range from 900°C to 850°C, R.A reduced unobviously from 34.27 % to 30.01 % with ferric films thickening gradually. The critical stress, 52.38MPa, was equal to tensile strength at 975°C. Intergranular fracture was easy to occur with higher critical stress below 975° C.IntroductionProductivity and product quality of slab are seriously affected by cracks during continuous casting and the influencing factors of cracks are various[l]. From microcosmic angle, resisting deformation ability of initial solidification shell decreases obviously with solute elements segregation which can urge the low melting point ofliquid film to form at grain boundaries[2, 3]. Meanwhile, with temperature decreasing, particles would precipitate as the practical solubility product is greater than equilibrium solubility product. The carbonitrides would lead to stress concentration at austenite grain boundaries. Therefore, the transverse cracks of microalloyed steel would form during the straightening operation in the continuous casting process. The hot ductility of steels in the temperature of mushy zone was characterized by microalloy elements segregation, zero strength temperature (ZST) and zero ductility temperature (ZDT). The nature, shape, and size of precipitates have been investigated by TEM (JEM2100). Hot tensile test with low strain rate was simulated by Gleeble-1500. The objective of present study is to provide reference for zero defect of microalloyed steel during continuous casting process."

Jan 1, 2013

By Jose R. Parga

In mining operations, cyanidation is the ,predominant method by which gold and silver are recovered from their ores and it is recognized that cyanide consumption can be a major factor that contributes to the operating costs for such operations. Also after extraction and recovery of precious metals a certain amount of cyanide is delivered to the tailings pond and must be considered with respect is environmental problems due to the toxicity of cyanides. In this regard, the Air-Sparged Hydrocyclone (ASH) has been used as a reactor for the treatment of cyanide solutions in two ways; first for cyanide recovery by acidulation using the Mexican modification of the Mills-Crowe process and second for cyanide destruction by oxidation with the use of chlorine dioxide (ClO2). In both cases, excellent performance can be achieved using the high capacity ASH system.

Jan 1, 1998

By B. J. Jody

Each year, about 11 million tons of metals (ferrous and nonferrous) are recovered in the U.S. from about 10 million discarded automobiles. The recovered metals account for about 75% of the total weight of the discarded vehicles. The balance of the material or shredder residue, which amounts to about 3 million tons annually, is currently landfilled. The residue contains a diversity of potentially recyclable materials, including polyurethane foams, iron oxides, and certain thermoplastics. This paper discusses a process under development at Argonne National Laboratory to separate and recover the recyclable materials from this waste stream. The process consists essentially of two- stages. First, a physical separation is used to recover the foams and the metal oxides, followed by a chemical process to extract certain thermoplastics. The status of the technology is discussed, and the process economics are reviewed.

Jan 1, 1994

By Peter A. Spencer

Bacterial oxidation technology has the ability to selectively attack sulphide minerals. Selectivity allows oxidation of more reactive minerals and the extraction of valuable metals while leaving the bulk of the sulphide component unreacted. Partial oxidation can be used on arsenopyrite to recover gold and for the leaching of base metals, such as copper and nickel, from pyritic ore and concentrate without generation of large quantities of acidic iron solution, which must be neutralized. Thus, rejection of pyrite during the oxidation process can considerably reduce treatment costs. Acid generation in tailings dams would be minimal, compared with most Thiobacillus cultures, as the optimum growth temperature of Bactechts culture is above ambient.

Jan 1, 1992

By Patrick R. Taylor

This investigation studied the inflight calcination kinetics of nuclear waste simulant using a thermal plasma reactor. A series of experiments were performed to determine the conversion of insoluble aluminum compounds to the soluble compounds and the decomposition of complex organic and nitrite compounds present in the simulant waste. Thermodynamic calculations based on free energy minimization were performed to establish a theoretical basis for this investigation. A kinetic model to describe the conversion of gibsite to sodium aluminate has been proposed. The products of the calcination were characterized using XRD, Gas Chromatography, and chemical analysis by ICP. The results of this investigation indicated 85% gibsite conversion to sodium aluminate, 90% of nitrate decomposition, 52% TOC decomposition and 90% conversion of chromium to soluble compounds. A process is identified for inflight calcination of wastes. Key words: Plasma, waste, simulant, calcination

Jan 1, 1996

By C. J. Malek

The CONTOP® smelting cyclone technology is a large-scale and time-proven method which in combination with other technologies (grinding, drying, pyrolysis, etc.) provides for a cost- efficient and ecological disposal of a wide range of waste materials from industry and households. In this report the basic principle of smelting cyclone technology will be explained first. Subsequently, the paper will discuss substantial concepts for the recovery of various remainders.

Jan 1, 1996

By Yun Guo, Min-Min Lin, Bing Xie, Hong-Yi Li

The extraction of vanadium from vanadium-containing APV-precipitated wastewater by W/O microemulsion system was studied. In the N263/n-heptane/isoamyl alcohol/NaCl microemulsion system, N263 played double functions of cationic surfactant and extractant to form microemulsion in n-heptane, and isoamyl alcohol was added in the microemulsion as a cosurfactant. The extraction of vanadium by W/O microemulsion systems effectively accelerated the extraction and improved the extractatability because of the enormous increase in the micro-interfacial surface area. Due to ion association with extractant, vanadium was extracted into the microemulsion phase. The influence of different parameters on the extraction ratio (E%) were investigated, including the volume ratio of aqueous phase to microemulsion, surfactant concentration, pH value of the feed solutions, cosurfactant concentration, extraction time as well as temperature. In optimum conditions, the extraction ratio (E%) can reach 97.2%.

Mar 1, 2018

By Shengli Wu, Mingyin Kou, Laixin Wang, Zhe Wang, Xinliang Liu

The sticking behavior of iron ores in the shaft furnace is one of the most important problems in the COREX melting progress, which directly influence the smooth operation and productivity of shaft furnace. Therefore, it is of great importance to study the sticking behavior of pellets in COREX shaft furnace. The results showed that porous metallic iron produced at the interface of pellets samples was the main reason for the sticking of pellets in the COREX shaft furnace. The SI (sticking index) and metallization rate increased with the reduction temperature and gas flow, and decreased with melting rate. However, the SI of pellets in the COREX shaft furnace could be decreased by the proper match of melting rate and reduction temperature, reduction temperature and gas flow, while the metallization rate of pellets were kept at a certain level. Furthermore, the matching of melting rate and reduction temperature was more effective than the matching of reduction temperature and gas flow.

Jan 1, 2016

Sanes are utilized to make molds for metal castings in the foundry industry. Approximately a half ton of sand is disposed of for each ton of metal cast in this country. The purpose of this investigation was to study and develop a process to separate chromite sand and silica sand from reclaimed sands for a steel foundry. Physical separations were utilized to yield silica and chromite sands with desirable molding properties. Several different separation methods, including electrostatic, magnetic, and various gravitational approaches were examined. Experimental results are presented. A method was developed to separate chromite sand from silica sand after mechanical or thermal reclamation. The reclaimed sands are passed through a rare earth magnetic separator to separate chromite sand and magnetic impurities from non-magnetic silica sand. Chromite sand can be recovered from magnetic silica sand or magnetic impurities very effectively using a wet concentrating table. The applicabilities of the separation methods are discussed.

Jan 1, 1995

By T. H. Jeffers

The U.S. Bureau of Mines' Salt Lake City Research Center. has developed porous polymeric beads containing immobilized non-living biological materials for extracting metal contaminants? from wastewater&. Immobilized biological materials include peat moss, algae, biological polymers, and other materials that demonstrate high .affinities for heavy metals. The beads, designated as BIO-FIX beads, have distinct advantages over traditional methods of utilizing biological materials in that they have excellent handling characteristics . and can be used in conventional processing equipment or low-maintenance systems.. Toxic metals such as copper, cadmium, zinc, lead, and mercury are several of the many heavy metals effectively removed from mine wastewater& using B'IO"FIX beads. Continuous cyclic testing indicated that the beads continued to produce treated effluents which met National Drinking Water Standards (NDIJS) after 175 loading-elution cycles, Adsorbed metals were removed from the beads using dilute ?mineral .acids. In many cases" the extracted metals were further concentrated to enable processors to reclaim the metals, thus minimizing the generation of a hazardous sludge. Tests indicated that use of the beads in a low-maintenance system was particularly effective for treating remote acid mine drainage waters? and small toxic seeps from hardrock mining districts ..

Jan 1, 1991